You would be better off to install win95 and then upgrade to 98.
I believe that win98 will bring in the corrupted registry and you will have major problems in the long run. Have you considered using the system.1st file, I will enclose the document for you to look at. It may save you 30 minutes off a reinstall.

Restoring the Registry to its Orginal State
Using System.1st
Restore the registry to its state when you first started Windows 95 successfully. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Restart the computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, then choose "Safe mode command prompt only" from the Startup menu.
2. Type the following command to move to the Windows folder
cd \<windows>
where <windows> is the Windows 95 folder. For example, if Windows 95 is installed in the Windows folder, type the following line:
cd \windows
3. Type the following line:
attrib -s -h -r system.dat
4. Type the following line:
ren system.dat system.xxx
5. Type the following line:
cd \
6. Type the following line:
attrib -s -h -r system.1st
7. Type the following line
copy system.1st c:\<windows>\system.dat
where <windows> is your Windows 95 folder.
8. Type the following line:
attrib +s +h +r system.1st
9. Restart your computer.

You would be better off to install win95 and then upgrade to 98.
I believe that win98 will bring in the corrupted registry and you will have major problems in the long run. Have you considered using the system.1st file, I will enclose the document for you to look at. It may save you 30 minutes off a reinstall.

Restoring the Registry to its Orginal State
Using System.1st
Restore the registry to its state when you first started Windows 95 successfully. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Restart the computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, then choose "Safe mode command prompt only" from the Startup menu.
2. Type the following command to move to the Windows folder
cd \<windows>
where <windows> is the Windows 95 folder. For example, if Windows 95 is installed in the Windows folder, type the following line:
cd \windows
3. Type the following line:
attrib -s -h -r system.dat
4. Type the following line:
ren system.dat system.xxx
5. Type the following line:
cd \
6. Type the following line:
attrib -s -h -r system.1st
7. Type the following line
copy system.1st c:\<windows>\system.dat
where <windows> is your Windows 95 folder.
8. Type the following line:
attrib +s +h +r system.1st
9. Restart your computer.

I would feel more secure installing 98 on a 'healthy' machine than a sick one. I would guess Win98 will correct and modifiy all the registry entries to get you to boot up as would 95, but 98 has its uncertainties already, so why multiply it by installing it on a messed up windows 95 machine.

I would correct your 95 problems first, then install 98. Or, reformat your harddrive and install 98. You could probably get away with just doing an upgrade to 98 over 95, but there are more risks associated with it, i think. :)

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